The 2008 scheme is not the one that Bascombe is talking about. It's the 2003 scheme with 'tweaks' (non-material amendments) so there will be no need for a new planning application.
A planning application would be valid for 5 years from the date of approval and would lapse 5 years after, unless extended by a Section 73 application.
The 2003 scheme was not finally given planning permission until 11th April 2006, so that consent would have lapsed on 11th April 2011 - unless the consent was extended.
Although I can find the application on the Council's website, I can't get the documents page to load, so I can't determine whether or not it was extended.
That said, had it been extended (in early 2011), I suspect we'd have heard about it.
Again,
that said, it may be possible that the Section 73 application has been lodged but not determined. That is one option that a smart planning consultant might have used as it would enable to consent to be kept just alive, possibly pending submission of new supporting data, if that were considered required to determine whether an extension should be granted (for example, updated traffic flow projections or energy efficiency stuff).
The only option that has a valid planning consent at the moment is the HKS scheme, although that only appears to have outline consent, so would require a full application to be made before the stadium could be built, a process that could take many months.
For the 2003 scheme to be resurrected (if it has not been extended via a Section 73 application), a new consent would be required, although planning permission might not be too difficult to achieve given the site's history. Such an application may also include design revisions, along the lines of the 'second generation' scheme proposed in 2007.